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Which water heater?

12-04-2010, 12:04 AM

I have to do a emergency quickie 40 gal nat. gas water heater changeout tomorrow (Sat.) The supply houses will be closed so I can't buy my usual B.W. or Rheem, so that leaves me no choice but buy a G.E. frome H.D, a Kemore from Sears, or whatever knockoff Lowe's sells. So, my question is which cheapo to buy that has the best reliability?

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GE, tank by Rheem/Ruud, electrics by GE, not a bad combo in light of the alternatives.

Wouldn't touch Kenmore and American (the latter from Lowes. which proved to have horrendous warranty backing when they were having mass recalls from thermocouple problems, often leaving homeowners with no hot water for days while they waited for left hand threaded TC's to be shipped.).

I hate Home Depot for the fact they try to over do the boundaries of their already bloated market share by competing against small contractors, a bad idea when they simultaneously try to market contractor services, but I can't deny they do have higher quality merchandise than their competitors in a pinch.

Thanks for your input everyone. I ended up going to Home Depot and getting the G.E.. The only hang up I saw when I Installed it was the G.E. R16 40 gal I bought was 5 inches shorter than the A.O Smith R16 40 gal it replaced. So, I had to extend the gas vent, lower the top earthquake strap, abandon the in wall t&p drain as it was too high, and run a new one outside. Whenever possible I will stick to B.W.'s and Rheems. It's amazing here in America we have over 100 brands of water heaters but only 6 manufacurers make them all.

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I often wondered why Home Depot (and the likes) sell water heaters but not furnaces.....if you don't know what you're doing you can kill yourself (and others) with a water heater as with a furnace. They should BOTH be sold or NEITHER!

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I often wondered why Home Depot (and the likes) sell water heaters but not furnaces.....if you don't know what you're doing you can kill yourself (and others) with a water heater as with a furnace. They should BOTH be sold or NEITHER!

They do, but you have to order them and they get a big markup because they buy them from a plumbing supply.

Which reminds me, walked into a HD one night to grab a tube of phenoseal back in '05.

I overheard and then interrupted a scary conversation with a woman who was on a mission to get the plumbing guy to rationalize how she could save money and use a water heater to heat her 2 family flip, she almost had him agreeing it might work and still get past the home inspection before reselling.

I do know electric water heaters sold at HD and Lowes are very low quality, elements are very thin , cheaper material, heaters are less insulated ect .... I will let a homeowner use one but with no warranty from me. The pressure tanks sole there are cheap quality as well. Bladders thin, very easy to burst but when nothing is open we all have resorted to these places in desperate times.